


Teamwork

by Aclyr



Category: Paranatural (Webcomic)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blood and Injury, Friendship, Gen, Giant Spiders, Light Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-31
Updated: 2018-08-31
Packaged: 2019-07-04 22:40:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15850872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aclyr/pseuds/Aclyr
Summary: What was supposed to be a simple investigation turns into a rescue mission as Spender and Zarei delve deep into mines under Mayview to find missing agents - and have an overdue conversation.





	Teamwork

**Author's Note:**

> The bulk of this story happens a few days after the end of chapter 4, but chapter 5 didn't happen, save for Zarei treating Isabel and the date with Day. So no Hijack, no hitball, nada.  
> Small detail: in this AU, Spender is a monster (AU monsters are basically spectrals caught in a spirit fusion gone wrong, and Spender needs Lucifer to keep the shadow from taking over).  
> Super special shoutout to Glowstickia for beta reading my mess of a first draft!

Ever since the unexpected and sudden destruction of the ghost train, agents Zarei, Spender, Day, Griggs and Savage had taken to meeting in the spot of the incident. As the only currently active agents in Mayview, and only active agents until another way of transportation through the barrier was found, the five of them had established meetings to report on worrying spirit activity as well as consortium updates.

As if intentionally coordinated, the agents stepped into the clearing. Griggs and Savage walked in together, holding folding chairs and beverages, settling towards the plastic table that signaled their meeting point. Day and Zarei, returning from their date, arrived closely behind. Spender stepped in alone. Exchanging good evenings, Savage unfolded a chair for Day to sit in before opening some for herself and Griggs. Zarei and Spender shared tense glances, standing on opposite sides of the clearing.

“So,” Savage started as she poured herself coffee from her thermos into a plastic cup. She reclined in her chair and took a sip. “Griggs and I noticed some movement near the outskirts of town. Several panicked spirits fleeing from _something_.” She stopped, taking a few sips from her coffee.

Griggs continued. “‘Went to check on where they were runnin’ from, found a small cave entrance. I managed to catch one of ‘em, but it fought me off screamin’ ‘Don't eat me!’. Probably dealin’ with a predator type spirit, maybe even a **grudge**.”

The mention of a possible grudge brought on an air of uneasiness across the clearing. Grudges were dangerous, unstable - nothing to take lightly. Tense silence fell on the group, Spender fidgeting with the hem of his jacket, Zarei re-adjusting her glasses. Day propped her elbows on the table, chin resting in the palm of her hand, thinking.

Agent Savage leaned forward and slammed her thermos and empty cup on the table. Day startled out of her thoughts, head turning in the direction of the noise. “So, we’re gonna go check it out.” she declared, pouring herself another cup of coffee. Zarei frowned.

“You’d be heading into unknown territory to deal with a potentially dangerous spirit, only the two of you. I can’t say I approve.” Day hummed in agreement.

“Pffff, don’t even worry about it.” Agent Savage said confidently, waving her hand in a dismissive motion. “It’s not even confirmed we’re dealing with a grudge, probably some big spirit that got over in it’s head”. She took a swig from her cup, and seeing the still unconvinced faces of her fellow agents, continued. “Alright, let’s say this; we’ll go in the morning, and if you don’t hear from us by the afternoon, you can start worrying about us. Deal?” next to her, agent Griggs scoffed.

“We’re not exactly newbies, either. Give us a lil’ faith.”

Zarei pursed her lips, obviously not confident in their decision, but relented. “Fine. I’ll accompany you to the cave entrance tomorrow morning, and I’ll give you a few hours to find and deal with the spirit. If you aren’t back by 3 P.M., I will come to get you.” She announced with finality, crossing her arms and staring down the agents.

Agents Savage and Griggs exchanged glances, nodding to each other.

“We’ll be done earlier than that.”

 

* * *

 

The Mayview Middle School bell rang, shrilly announcing the end of classes, and thus the end of Richard Spender’s day. Well, what should be the end of his day, were it not for grading copies and preparing his next classes. Not to mention club activities, and other supernatural investigations. He sighed, looking out the window at the afternoon sky as his body made the motions of gathering his papers mechanically, almost deaf to the excited rush of students making their way out of the classroom.

His phone rang in his pocket, startling him. Taking it out, he frowned at the caller ID. Mina Zarei. Grimacing, he answered nevertheless. “Hello?”

“Agent Griggs and agent Savage have not returned from their mission.”

Zarei’s tense tone sent an icy shiver through his body, the implications of her statement more than worrying.

“I’ll be right over.”

He hung up and quickly texted ‘ _I’ll be home later_ ’ to Garcia as he briskly walked to his car. 

 

* * *

 

Spender parked his car at the end of a long dirt path, close to Zarei’s motorcycle. The location she sent him was so far removed from any normal roads and buildings, he wondered how agents Briggs and Savage even found the place. Stepping out of his car, he quickly spotted the man-made path of stomped leaves and grass, where no doubt the other agents had walked through.

Following the path, he quickly found Zarei standing in front of an opening in a wall of rock, fidgeting with a flashlight. She turned around at the sound of his footsteps, waiting for him to reach her side before talking.

“I’ve done some research about this cave. It connects to some closed down mines, abandoned two decades ago due to unstable foundations. Either they lost to the spirit, or got trapped. In any case, this is a rescue mission.” She explained briefly, turning on her flashlight as she took her first steps towards the cave entrance. Spender followed, a few steps behind.

While the tunnel entrance had only extended barely above their heads, the inside of the cave curved upwards, slowly gaining height the deeper it went. As they distanced themselves from the opening, the cave grew darker, and soon enough only Zarei’s flashlight illuminated the area. Spender broke the silence first.

“You didn’t call agent Day?” he took notice of how Zarei’s shoulders tensed up and her back straightened as she replied.

“No. I’d rather we have at least one remaining agent above ground, in case anything happens. Besides…” her eyes moved down, staring at the floor. “... I don’t think we could cooperate right now.”

Spender’s mouth twisted into a lopsided grin despite himself. “I take your date didn’t go well?”

“Hmph, I’d hardly call it a date. More of an interrogation.” she scoffed, raising her head and accelerating her pace.

“Heh, I guess you’d hate that.”

Zarei stopped suddenly in her steps, turning around almost lightning fast. She pointed the flashlight in Spender’s face, making his eyes squint despite the sunglasses. His hands flew to his face to protect his eyes from the beam of light, barely able to distinguish Zarei behind the flashlight.

“You’re one to talk.”

And as fast as she stopped, she took back off, leaving Spender stunned in her wake. Blinking a few times, he followed a few steps behind her, shoving his hands in his pockets. The silence of the cave took over once more, both thankful for the darkness that hid their similarly indignant pouts.

After a few minutes of walking in silence, the two spectrals came at a crossroads. Two small entrances, separated by a few feet of rock, branched in different directions. Zarei moved her flashlight across the walls, looking for any marks that could indicate in which direction the missing agents had gone - and found nothing. The duo stood in silence once more, thinking about their next course of action.

“Let’s go left-”

“Let’s go right-”

They stared at each other with slight disbelief. Zarei frowned.

“We are not getting separated.”

“We agree on that.”

“If the agents decided to split, we’ll backtrack to find the other one. If they both went in the same direction and we go through the wrong entrance, we’ll also backtrack.”

“Sounds good to me.”

“Then let’s go left.”

“Then let’s go right.”

Zarei took a deep breath as Spender dragged a hand across his face. Zarei turned to face Spender, extending a fist towards him. Spender lifted an eyebrow.

“Rock Paper Scissors.” she said, completely straight faced.

“Wha-”

Zarei interrupted him before he could protest. “We are never going to get to an agreement otherwise.” Spender’s mouth opened, then shut, then opened and shut again. He had to relent, she was right. He lifted an arm out of his pocket, and shut his hand in a fist in front of hers. They went through the motions of the game, raising their fists up and down three times while humming the game’s song before stopping all movements, their choices made.

Zarei’s fingers were open in a V shape, and Spender’s hand was open flat; scissors beats paper. A subtle but smug smile pulled at Zarei’s lips, lowering her hand and walking towards the left entrance. Spender followed begrudgingly, trying very hard not to mope.

Their course continued, but this time Zarei broke the silence first.

“So, how about you tell me what happened that night on the train.” There was no questioning in her tone, only a straightforward demand. Spender sputtered in surprise, recomposing himself as quickly as he could from the sudden question.

“Is this really the time to talk about this?” He tried to sound calm, dismissive even, but Zarei could sense the dread in his tone.

“Of course. We are only the two of us, no Consortium agents eavesdropping, in a place unlikely to be overheard in. I’d say this is the perfect moment.” Zarei could barely mask the contentment in her voice. She had him cornered. Like before she turned around, this time mercifully keeping the flashlight out of Spender’s face. “You were also injured. I’ll take a look, in exchange for information.”

Spender ground his teeth. While he hadn’t been expecting her to rekindle that conversation now, he couldn’t say he had forgotten about it; the claw shaped burn on his chest still stung.

“Like I said, scratches. Nothing serious.” He averted his glance to the side, trying to look anywhere but at Zarei.

“That doesn’t explain the train. Or the Guerra girl’s injury.”

“Isabel was injured?”

“Yes. I treated her yesterday at her grandfather’s dojo, before my meeting with agent Day. Were you honestly not aware?”

“I- I didn’t- How-” Spender ran his hands through his hair, trying to process the information. When had that happened? Had she fallen when the train went berserk, sprained something, _broke_ something? He should have paid more attention, he should have-

“Hmph, what kind of mentor you are. Letting your students get injured, losing a vital asset to the consortium…” Zarei sneered. His cluelessness was making her frustration rise, as well as the lack of answers. Her voice rose in volume. “The least you could do now to _fix_ things is just tell me what happened-”

“I can’t.”

His sudden response stunned her into silence. “I’m too close to _something_ , I can tell I’m getting there, I just need a bit more _time_ -!”

Her ire spiked, her hand clenching around the flashlight in a death grip. “ _Something_?! You get my spirit killed, and all you have to give me is ‘ ** _something_** ’-!”

A gooey blob fell between them, stopping Zarei in the middle of her sentence with a ‘ _splat_ ’. She pointed the flashlight downwards, and both spectrals stared in surprise at the blue puddle of slime. A few more droplets fell, and Zarei slowly directed the beam of light at the ceiling.

The flashlight revealed a massive spider-like creature, with a huge round body as big as a school bus, striped blue and black. Sixteen thorny legs sprouted from all around the creature and imbedded themselves in rock, inch long spikes covering almost their entire surface. Eight bright blue eyes stared back at them, almost glowing from the reflection of the flashlight, and between them a large mouth with hundreds of teeth, dripping blue sludge down at them. From their angle they could see larger spikes on the top of its body, thick as an arm, and sharp at the ends.

Zarei’s knuckles turned white around her flashlight. She felt as if her heart had stopped beating. Spender’s jaw had fallen slack, breaking out in a cold sweat. Time seemed to stop as both parties stared at each other.

With a loud screech the spider retracted its legs from the walls, letting itself drop on top of them. The two spectrals immediately took off running. Its spikes drove into the ground with a ‘shunk’ noise, passing through rock like butter yet leaving a sizeable hole in their wake. The spider flipped itself upright and followed the running spectrals, hissing loudly.

As frantic as they were running away from the creature, neither spectral noticed the sudden end of the tunnel, tumbling down a rocky slope and into a larger room. The square-ish cave still had human mining structures inside, worn down by time yet still standing. On the other side from where they fell was a chasm, extending from one side of the cave to the other, with a pulley system at one end.

They rolled into a standing position, standing ready to fight as the spider dropped down from the tunnel, blowing out rocks as it burst through. The ground trembled as it landed, and it roared, mandibles clicking.

“Well, it's definitely a grudge…” Spender stated out loud, though the obvious physical marks left by the spirit didn’t need vocal confirmation.

The spider charged at them, and the spectrals split to the sides of the spider, letting it run into the opposing wall. However, it managed to stop its course before hitting it head first, quickly spinning around and dashing back at them.

“Again!” Zarei called out, and they split once again. This time, the spider chose to go after one of them at a time, changing its course to charge at Zarei. Its legs swiped at her as she dodged, trying to catch her with their spikes, to latch onto a limb and turn her into its next meal. Its body suddenly veered to the side and it crashed to the ground.

“Don’t ignore me!” Spender taunted the beast, having cut four of its legs on one side with a spectral sword. Blue blood splattered on the ground. The spider scuttled away as best it could, letting out a deafening screech of pain while the spectrals took a battle stance once more. The spider tentatively stabilized itself, spreading more weight to its other legs to compensate for the missing ones. With another roar, it attacked once again.

“Take out its eyes!” Zarei instructed, and for the third time the spectrals dashed to the sides of the beast. Both materializing sharp weapons out of spectral energy, they slashed and stabbed the spider’s eyes, blinding it.

The spirit _howled_ , louder than any previous times, and the spectrals couldn’t help but cover their ears. Much faster than a creature missing four of its legs should be able to, it ran into walls, taking down mining constructions, the cavern trembling and rocks falling from the ceiling. In its wake were trails of blue blood, staining the ground. It lashed out, hitting anything it could with its long legs. One leg found Zarei’s hand, the one holding the flashlight, slashing it. Zarei dropped the item with a shout, un-injured hand clasping around her cut to staunch the bleeding.

“Mina!” Spender couldn’t help his outcry at the sight of his old friend getting hurt. The sound drew the spider’s attention to him, and with a wail it rushed towards him. Spender barely had the time to put up a spectral energy barrier to protect himself from the spiky leg rushing towards him. While the barrier stopped the spikes, it couldn’t stop the strength or momentum of the strike, sending him flying back. The blow sent him rolling over a few feet, and his world lurched as the ground disappeared from under him. His eyes found Zarei’s one last time as he fell into the chasm at the end of the room.

Just as Zarei saw Spender disappear into the ravine, a falling rock landed on her discarded flashlight and shattered it. The cavern plunged into total darkness. “Shit”, she muttered. Her contemplation of just how awful this situation turned out was cut short by a whoosh of air above her head. The spider was still mobile and angry, and a lack of light wouldn’t affect a blind creature.

As she scrambled to get as far from the beast as she possibly could, her hand landed on something smooth and small. Her fingers closed around it and she almost instantly recognized the shape of glasses - sunglasses, and probably Spender’s. Before she could consider her find, the spider lashed out once more, one of its legs striking her, sending her flying across the cave and into a pile of fallen rocks.

The screeching started anew, seemingly louder than before as her ears rang, and the walls started rumbling again. In her winded state Zarei struggled to get her arms over her head and shut her eyes tightly, bracing herself for imminent pain-

Suddenly, all stopped.

Her eyes blinked open, and there was light.

The look of the cave had changed around her; columns and gigantic drapes replaced the walls, ivy climbing the marble pillars. Fabric and vines mixed together on fallen rocks, bushes and trees overtaking alabaster structures. And in the middle of the room, between her and the spider, stood a spirit. The spirit turned around, and she took a good look at him.

His head looked like a light bulb shaped cage, inside a large bird with a single eye, staring at her - she dimly registered, through her shock, that he looked like a lamp, which was fitting with all the light emanating from him. From the bulb-cage cascaded red fabric. A red hand breached through the cloth, settling where she figured his chest would be. Before she could even open her mouth, the spirit spoke first.

“ _My name is Lucifer, and you must be Mina Zarei_.”

She nodded, stunned, and Lucifer kept talking.

“ _I am Richard Spender’s partner spirit-_ ” he pointed to the glasses she still held tightly in her hands. She realised with a mix of surprise and amusement that despite being flung across the room, she hadn’t let go of Spender’s tool, “ _-and I have been looking forward to meeting with you for a while._ ” To her side, leaves rustled, and Patchworm emerged from a bush.

“ **i** **too  was  eager  to  meet  you,  light  spirit** ” Patchworm chimed in with his slow drawl, rolling close to Zarei’s head. “ **i** **n  truth  I  have  been  trying  to  arrange meetings between us  for  many  years  now** ”. Lucifer, looking pleased, floated over.

“ _I am glad to see my student isn’t the only one giving me problems, although I am certain Mina Zarei shows much more reasonable tendencies._ ”

“ **y** **ou  would  be  surprised** ”

The spirits hit it off immediately, chatting about a mentor’s woes. Zarei slowly got up, managing to stand on her knees as her faculties returned to her. As much as she appreciated Patchworm socializing and talking to other spirits, there was a big, spider shaped problem to tend to. And she did feel slightly talked over.

“Um-” She interfered, eloquently. Both spirits turned to look at her. “I hate to interrupt, but…” She made a circle gesture, and pointed behind Lucifer.

“ _Ah, yes, I suppose we should go back to the matter at hand_.” Lucifer looked at the spider spirit, still in pursuit despite the drastically slowed down time. He turned back to Zarei, single eye pinched in what she interpreted to be a frown.

“ _Our spectral energy colors are barely close enough for me to lend you some of my power; it won’t be much, but it should be enough to allow you to see._ ” He looked in the direction of the crevice, and swiveled back around. “ _You must act fast. I can’t be separated from Richard for too long._ ” The reminder of her old friend falling into the chasm was the last push she needed towards full alertness. His hand touched the glasses in Zarei’s hand, and they started glowing. She folded one temple into her hijab, letting them dangle and providing light. As the summoned world around her started to fade, she whipped up a plan.

Right as time started its course again, she launched herself up the rocky slope behind her, climbing as fast as she could.

 

* * *

 

Spender was very aware of how fast he was falling, and how he would soon be achieving ‘messy splat on the ground’ status if he didn’t act fast. His arms reached out to grab something, anything, to slow his descent. His right hand grazed against a rocky wall, and he snagged a protruding rock. The sudden break in momentum swung his body into the wall, and upon collision his handle broke; fortunately for him, he only fell a few more feet before hitting the bottom.

“Ooww………” curling up on his side, Spender cradled his right arm. While not dislocated, the strain of stopping his fall wasn’t pleasant to say the least, and would be sore for a few days. His burn ached from how his skin had stretched when he had grabbed the wall. ‘ _Great way to spend the afternoon'_ , he thought - right now he’d rather be at home with Garcia, or reading a book, or-

His train of thought stopped. Something was missing. His hands flew to his face.

His glasses were gone.

“No, no no no…” his hands roamed the ground around him, eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness. While his night vision was better than most humans - perks of being fused with a shadowy being - he’d rather not have risked accidentally stepping on his glasses and breaking them in his panic. His movements, minimal but frantic, were ultimately useless; his glasses were nowhere around him.

The gears in his mind started working. He definitely couldn’t show up with his eyes uncovered, and reckoned he had a few minutes before he’d be unable to keep the shadow’s effects at bay by himself. Using its powers would drain his time, but if it could help in finding Lucifer faster then it would be worth it. The chasm he had fallen in was longer than large, so his glasses shouldn’t have fallen too far away from him - if they even fell with him at all. Steeling his resolve, he took a deep breath, and concentrated.

Shadows spread from his hands, connecting with the already all encompassing darkness of the mines, expanding like a net over the surface of the pit, leaving no space untouched, no rock unturned. Rock, dirt, metal, plastic? His eyes snapped open. Further ahead was an intersection he hadn’t seen before. Getting up slowly, he hugged the wall to his right, making sure to stay out of a viewing angle from the entrance; if anything was in there, he’d want to get the jump on it. Materializing a spectral energy sword and shield, he jumped in front of the corridor, bracing for an attack, but the sight made him take a step back in surprise.

The corridor was a dead end, absolutely covered in blue gooey webs. Not an inch of rock poked out from under the spirit silk. Cocoons littered the walls in different shapes and sizes, some clawed open and shredded to bits, others still closed. A few were moving, small motions of struggle from creatures clearly trapped inside. Spender had stumbled into the spider’s feeding den, and it looked like it prefered its meals fresh and alive on consumption. At his feet was the unmistakable shape of agent Savage’s tool, with its signature green dinosaur head.

Spender sprung into action, reconstructing his spectral shield into another blade. He sliced into the closed cocoons, small spirits zipping past him and to freedom, and hacked a passage through to the end of the tunnel. The silk sizzled and burned when cut from its source, which stung his eyes, but at the end of the corridor he saw two human shaped cocoons, standing next to each other in a sight eerily similar to caskets.

Careful not to hurt his fellow agents, Spender cut into the cocoon closest to him. Agent Griggs fell out, unconscious, and Spender scrambled to catch him before he could face-plant into the ground. Setting him away from intact webbing, he went to free agent Savage, and soon enough both agents were free, but both out cold.

Spender looked around nervously, thinking about his next course of action. As pressed as he was for time, he couldn’t just let the agents here, not when the spirit wasn’t defeated yet. Looping spectral energy around their arms, Spender started dragging them to safety. His right arm and chest protested at the effort, but he did his best to ignore them. He’d take care of himself later - or never, if he wasn’t caught injured. Backing out of the dead end, he spotted mining tracks from the opposite direction he had come from. He steered in their direction.

He couldn’t get very far before a wave of queasiness washed over him. His time running out, he settled the agents to the nearest cover he could spot, mumbling curses under his breath. “Good enough”, he muttered. Them being well hidden or not wouldn’t matter if the spirit wasn’t defeated anyways. And if a shadow monster suddenly started rampaging around. A shudder seized him, the feeling of unease stronger than before. He had to find Lucifer.

Looking around, he spotted a pulley about ten feet away from him. It seemed to connect up, probably back to the room he had been pushed off from. He couldn’t see the top - his night vision only went so far - but he could feel tremors and hear faint screeching. Zarei was still fighting. Giving a few tugs on the pulley to test its sturdiness, he began his ascent. He couldn’t find his glasses anywhere at this level, which meant that they still had to be up there.

Or at least, he hoped so.

 

* * *

 

The spider rushed into the rocky slope, right below Zarei, making the mound of rocks collapse on top of it. Zarei came tumbling down with them, but unlike a lifeless rock, she controlled her fall and landed on top of the dazed spider, avoiding spikes. Before the spider could recover, Zarei expertly looped spectral energy threads around the spider’s front legs and maw, binding it in a muzzle. Pulling all the threads together, she held on to dear life as the spider recovered and started struggling.

Its mandibles flailed in their bindings, trying to chew the threads lose. Shaking furiously to throw her off, the spider used its free remaining legs to scramble around the room as best it could. Zarei used all of her leg strength to hang on to the spider’s back, pulling the threads up as far she could to disorient the spirit. The spider bucked under her, and Zarei vaguely remembered watching a documentary on Rodeos in the past, though if she had to choose, she’d pick a horse or a bull over a giant spider.

A particularly strong kick almost made her lose her grip, and she realized maybe a bit more thought could have gone into this plan. ‘ _Just tire it out_ ’, she thought, trying to regain her balance. ‘ _Just tire it out_ ’.

So concentrated on maintaining equilibrium, she didn’t notice when the spider edged closer to a wall. Its body slammed into the rock. The sudden blow made her lose her grip on some of her spectral threads, giving more breathing room to the spider, which threw itself into the wall once again. Her legs slipped off, and she hung onto one of the spikes, clutching her spirit threads ever so tightly, even when they started cutting into her hands.

“Mina!” her head snapped around - she wasn’t hallucinating, that voice did belong to Spender. Winded, and a bit roughed up, but alive. He had climbed back up with an old pulley system and was hoisting himself onto the cave’s floor. Zarei tried answering to his call, but one last shove from the spider made her lose her grip on its spikes, sliding off entirely from its back.

The spider made a mad dash towards the newest source of sound, pain and anger driving it into a frenzy. Spender tried standing, but a wave of nausea brought him back down to his knees. The exhaustion from climbing and the effort of keeping the shadow in check were taking their toll, and he could do nothing but stare death in the face as it barreled towards him.

But the beast stopped - or rather, tripped. Spender’s eyes widened as he saw Zarei, further behind the spider, holding it back with all her might. Her feet dug into the irregularities of the rocky floor, her entire body straining against the weight of the spider as she pulled with both hands on the few spectral threads she had kept a grip on. They had looped around the spider’s remaining legs. Blood trickled down from her hands into her sleeves, and she yelled out at him.

“Rick, move!”

With a choked breath, Spender grit his teeth and grabbed the shadows at his feet, raising them like a curtain under the spider with a battle cry. With the strength of his swipe and Zarei’s pull, the spider flew back, soaring above her and crashing into the opposite wall. Zarei fell backwards at the sudden loss of tension, letting go of her threads. She clambered towards Spender, who had fallen back to his knees. She knew they didn’t have much time until the spider got back up, and needed all the help she could get to destroy the grudge.

“Rick, come on, we don’t have time-” her entire train of thought stopped when pitch black eyes with yellow irises stared up at her. Her hand that had reached to help him up had stopped in its path as she stood transfixed by those eyes. As for Spender, he wanted to look away; her piercing gaze seemed to bore into his mind, yet he couldn’t make his head turn, his eyes look away. The cat was out of the bag, for good, and it would only be a matter of time before the whole story broke out.

Zarei blinked first. She leaned back on the soles of her feet, closed her eyes. Taking a deep breath, she thrust her arm back out, hand outstretched. Spender, who had averted his eyes, blinked back up at her, puzzled.

“Let’s finish this.” Her lips were slightly twisted up, in a tiny, but confident smile, and Spender couldn’t help but unsteadily return the grin as he grasped her bloodied hand. She heaved him up, and together they stood, turning to face the spirit.

The spider had gotten back up, struggling on its last legs, screeching non-stop. A cornered animal in its last moments, ready to take down anything in its path before dying. With a final howl, it leaped towards them for its final attack, rows of teeth glittering in the light as it descended on the two spectrals.

Still holding onto each other, Spender and Zarei reared their linked hands back, green spectral energy and shadows twirling together in a storm of energy, forming a grand lance. With a shout of determination, they thrust their assembled attack forward, impaling the spider through its mouth, piercing all the way through its body.

The spider dissolved into a white specter, floating away defeated. With her free hand, Zarei shot a ball of spectral energy into it, destroying it for good.

The two spectrals collapsed to the floor, finally letting go of each other. Spender fell onto his back, breathing heavily, while Zarei remained seated and sighed in relief. Blessed silence fell upon the mines, the first moments of peace and what had seemed like an eternity. For the first time since entering, Zarei could get a good look at the cave they fell in, or rather what was left of it. Fallen rocks and debris littered the room, a small stream of water glittering gently against a wall, probably from when the spider ran into it-

Oh. Right. “I think these belong to you.” Zarei unclasped the sunglasses from her hijab, handing them to Spender. He sat up like a jack in a box, almost slapping the glasses out of her hands in his hurry to get them back. He clumsily shoved them onto his face, his aim off. When they were finally back in place, he kept his hands clasped to the sides, and looked away.

The silence turned awkward, both unsure of what to say.

“ **t** **his  is  a  golden  opportunity,  Mina** ” Patchworm encouraged, inches away from her face. “ **h** **e  holds  many  answers  that  we  seek,  and  could  bring  us  to the  end  of  this  mystery** ”

“ _Do not let this chance slide, Richard!_ ” Lucifer wanted to shake Spender, but settled on a stern yet energetic tone. “ _She could very well be our key to victory. This is the help we need!_ ”

“ **but  most  importantly,** ”

“ _and above all else,_ ”

“ **t** **his** **is  the  first  step  in** _rekindling your friendship_ ”

Both spectrals’ spirit worlds faded, going back to the darkness of the mines. Spender created a new light source from his spirit trance, letting it float above them. A few tense seconds passed, before they both turn to face each other at the same time.

“I’m-”

“I-”

“Wait, you first”

“No, you can go first!”

“No you!”

Zarei sank her face into her knees. “This is silly…” ‘ _This isn’t going to work_ ’ she thought mournfully. They were too entrenched in their secrets, too deeply stuck in their ways - her seeing what lay behind the glasses was already enough of a fluke, he never would have trusted her to begin with-

“The train was attacked.” Her head shot up, eyes wide in surprise. Spender was looking at her, face neutral. He continued. “By a spirit calling himself Forge. An old spirit, spoke in ancient tongues.” His hand rested on his chest, as if unconsciously drawn by his injury when remembering the incident. “We fought, I defeated him. I believe he had something to do with the incident 13 years ago, or was at least trying to get involved.”

Zarei blinked. Once, twice. This certainly was… information, and while she wasn’t certain what to make of it, she could tell he wasn’t lying. She could see her silence was making him flustered, his mouth twisting into an uncomfortable grimace as he thought of more things to share.

“As for my, uh, ah- condition, I…” his sentence trailed off, voice dying at the back of his throat. This wasn’t a leap he was ready to make, despite it being arguably done already. She had seen his eyes, his powers, there was no reason to be so nervous-

“I’d like for us to share notes.” She filled in the silence, to his great relief. “We’ve obviously been researching similar subjects, and for the sake of productivity we might as well combine our efforts.” Even in the dim lighting, Spender could see Zarei was just as flustered as him, but hiding it better. “...What do you think.” she concluded shyly.

“Yes!” Spender answered lightning fast, very awkwardly. He laughed nervously. “Erm, yes, I’d love to.” Zarei smiled fondly, shaking her head.

“We’ll discuss this more once we get out of here. Deal?”

“Deal.”

“Well, let’s go find the agents.”

“Oh, I found them already.”

“Huh?”

 

* * *

 

 “...So we got caught, huh…” Agent Savage stared at her feet. Agent Griggs and herself had come to a few minutes prior, after being shaken awake by Spender and Zarei. “Damn it, this is embarrassing!”

“Don’t feel too bad about it, agent. The spirit gave us quite a run for our money as well!” Spender reassured, helping her up.

“Yeah, I noticed.” She said, eyeing the dried blood on Zarei’s hands and their various cuts and bruises. “How the hell did you even beat it anyways?”

The two spectrals paused, sending each other sideways glances.

“Just a bit of teamwork.”


End file.
